5 Easy Ways To Save Money

There isn’t one person in the world who doesn’t want to be able to save, or to have more money. The majority of adults wish they could save more, have a better pension or be able to take the family on that holiday they’ve always dreamed of. Sometimes, just taking that first step is the most difficult, and once you see how easy something actually is, then you get the hang of it and are well away. This can definitely apply to saving money; you need to start somewhere but once the momentum begins, there are many ways you can save money.

Although these alone won’t bring you a life changing amount of money, the little things add up, especially over time. If you continue to implement little things, then you’ll soon have a good sum that you can add to your pension pot, your long term savings, that decorating project you’ve never got round to, or whatever you like!

Do an account tidy regularly.

If you have online banking, then you should already be checking your bank balance on a regular basis, to check for any mishaps or unusual transactions. An easy way to save money is to do a account tidy; if your bank balance is £337.54, then you’d transfer the £7.54 into a savings account, leaving your current account as £330.00. I do this every day, and the little amounts you transfer add up over the month, without you even realising it. At the end of the month, you could definitely have over £100 saved this way.

Get selling your old things.

Everyone has items in their household that are no longer useful, or necessary to that person. Apparently, the average household in the UK will contain over £1,000 of unused clutter. There are lots of places to sell your unwanted things, such as eBay, Music Magpie, Gumtree, car boot sales and Facebook selling groups. All you need to do is take a clear picture(s) of the item you are selling, then add a description and a price and upload. Then wait for the pennies and pounds to roll in! I’ve made over £100 on eBay in the last couple of months, just by decluttering our home and selling things we no longer need.

Write a menu plan and shopping list before you head to the grocery store.

I am a huge advocate of writing a menu plan and shopping list before I go grocery shopping every week. I know some people aren’t a fan of writing a menu plan as it might be restrictive, but it does save you money as you only buy what you need for that week. Using a list, plus items that you already have in as your stockpile means that you will save money on your grocery shopping each week. Not buying convenience foods will also bring your grocery spends down.

Make your gifts rather than buy store bought ones.

I love giving gifts to people, but birthdays and the holiday season can soon add up to a costly sum, especially if you have a big family. An easy way to save money is to make your own presents, rather than buying things from a store. You could make homemade brownies, food mixes, cookies, candles, freshly baked bread or jewellery. The majority of the time these things are edible so that they are less likely to become clutter in someone else’s house; who doesn’t like chocolate brownies as a present?! If someone turned up at our home with these salted caramel brownies or this mini egg cake, I would be more than happy.

Use cash rather than cards to pay for everyday spending, where possible.

It is much easier to spend more money when you pay by card, simply because it doesn’t really feel like you’re spending any money. You are paying using a small rectangular piece of plastic, which is not money at all. If you take money out of a cash machine and use that when you are buying things, it feels a lot more real as you are handing over physical cash. You are much less likely to overspend if you use actual money as opposed to plastic.

The hardest part of starting saving is to actually start. By starting off small, you can soon build your savings to a substantial amount, by finding easy ways to save money. If you ever feel like giving up as it feels like you’ll never reach your goal (and I feel like this often about our early retirement plans!) then remember, you are in a much better position than if you’d never started, plus slow and steady wins the race.

I could be so much better about menu planning… the lack of direction is killing my grocery budget! And I’m a big convenience food buyer (pre-sliced deli cheese, individual chip bags, frozen meals). I know the cost is greater than buying bigger containers and dividing by portion size or making foods from scratch but at the same time I think that at least buying any groceries instead of eating out is a big leap from my old ways. Baby steps… 😉

Brilliant tips. I do prefer to use cash where I can as it is easier and more real. A Credit Card is good for certain things or big purchases where you get a guarantee if something goes wrong but ordinary daily purchases are easy to keep track of when paying by cash.